


Miscalculation

by ncfan



Series: The Second Kinslaying, and Aftermath [1]
Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Character Death, F/M, Gen, POV Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-29
Updated: 2013-06-29
Packaged: 2017-12-16 13:35:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/862614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ncfan/pseuds/ncfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nimloth can't find her children.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Miscalculation

_Where are the children?_

Her husband is a fool, a young, arrogant fool. Perhaps in better days, in happier days, Nimloth would not couch it so bluntly, or so bitterly, but there it is; Dior has been a fool, has miscalculated, has underestimated the strength of his foe and overestimated the strength of his own kingdom, and now they're all paying for it. She knew when she wed him that she was marrying someone very young, and very brash. Nimloth hadn't minded it, because she had loved Dior and to love someone is to be able to love _them_ , talents and faults alike. Now? Now, she's wishing she'd been a little more concerned.

Menegroth is in chaos. Menegroth is under attack. Menegroth will not last until morning; this Nimloth knows. Elves fight and die all around her. She ducks and dives through the battling and the dying, their screams reverberating in her ears and shattering upon her back. The smell of blood flows and ebbs in her nostrils like the sea she has only seen once ( _Father used to lament that though they were kin to the Teleri of the Blessed Realm, Nimloth herself held no love for the ocean_ ). Her silver hair gleams in the torchlight and the fires blazing, and she does not care for the danger all around her.

_Where are my children?_

They got away from her in the beginning of the assault, rushing down the winding, twisted corridors of the Thousand Caves at the initial screams and sword-songs. They were terrified and ran deeper into the caves, towards safety. Nimloth has searched their rooms, and not found them there; next she went to the bedchamber she shares with Dior, then to Galadriel and Celeborn's apartments, where they would likely be if not with their parents. _The twins are always begging Galadriel for stories of the Blessed Realm, and Elwing and Celeborn are so fond of one another…_

She can not find them. No matter where Nimloth looks, she can not find her children. Her bedchamber is deserted. Galadriel and Celeborn's apartments are empty; they may have been granted safe passage, considering Galadriel's close blood ties to the Kinslayers.

Death has come to Menegroth, and Nimloth can't find her children.

_Where are they? Where are they? Where could they have gone? Why could I not keep a closer eye on them? Why could Dior not have given up the Silmaril? Why could Thingol not have given it up? Why could we not have been content to live without it?_

_Where are they?_

Nimloth turns the corner down the hall leading down to the old treasury, and meets her end on the spears of the Kinslayers. She had devoted all her thoughts to her little ones, and had not heard them coming.


End file.
